Private recycling services now available locally

These days, it’s hip to be green. For the average person, recycling is the easiest and most popular way to care for the planet we call home, but even this simple task can be made difficult by the lack of services in certain areas of St Augustine and St Johns County.

After living in apartment and condominium complexes that would not provide recycling to their residents, St Augustine natives, Adam Morely and Janine LeBlanc, decided to investigate other eco-friendly alternatives.

Property managers gave the pair reasons for their inability to process recyclables that ranged from “recycling bins near the dumpster will cause odors and attract pests” to “our last recycling service provider stopped providing service because the recyclables were too contaminated with trash”.

Necessity being the mother of invention, in late 2008, the entrepreneurs seized the opportunity to provide private recycling solutions to individuals living in multi-family complexes and “AnJ Recycling Service, LLC” was born.

Subscribers to their service will receive an AnJ recycling tote made of recycled materials with reinforced straps that can hold up to thirty pounds. A divider splits the tote into two compartments, one for fiber materials (paper) and one for everything else.

For convenience, one side of the tote is printed with a list of everything AnJ accepts for recycling, including glass, plastic, aluminum, clean Styrofoam, old cell phones, rechargeable batteries, and printer cartridges.

In order to comply with community covenants, restrictions, homeowner’s association rules, and regulations, recyclables are kept inside subscribers’ homes during the week, and then picked-up on a scheduled collection day.

Materials are transported to be processed at a small facility on Dobbs Road which is soon to become one of two drop-off locations in February 2012.

AnJ is a friendly, reliable business that truly cares about the impact they can have on St Augustine and the environment; however, LeBlanc said new subscriptions are slow. “Those with curbside recycling service are paying for it through their property taxes or through monthly assessments,” LeBlanc told Historic City News. “Many of those without service are in commercial properties that may be exempt from those taxes or assessments.”

The City of St. Augustine says they will provide large recycling bins to any multi-family complex within the city limits, but the concerns may outweigh the advantages to the property managers.

“We have addressed and provided the solution to all the concerns these multi-family complexes could have,” LeBlanc said. “Now it’s just a waiting game to see if enough individuals are willing to pay for it to keep us in business. It’s been slow, but very promising.”

For more information about AnJ Recycling Service, LLC, visit www.AnJRecycling.com or give them a call at (904) 540-0514. You can also search for AnJ Recycling on Facebook.